There used to be a vocal minority of Miller detractors, and one of their favorite songs to sing was “Miller never steals games!”. And while the rest of us know that this isn’t the first game he’s stolen, it’s one of the most obvious. The Sabres slept-walked through the first and most of the second, lucky that Ryan only allowed the one goal. Jordan Leopold evened the score for them, cleaning up a Stafford rebound. Montreal shot themselves in the foot, however, icing the puck with 6 seconds left in the second period. Goose won the draw, a couple of quick passes and Vanek blasts it home for the eventual game winner. Christian Ehrhoff added an empty netter.
You can be sure Lindy will be pressing the boys on the importance of a 60 minute effort, but it sure is nice to have the real Ryan Miller back there as a safety net against those 20 minute ones.
Four games in, and the Sabres have three wins to show for it. Not too shabby. Buffalo’s best players are heavily involved, with Vanek leading the way with 7 points (3G 4A), and youngster Luke Adam making his case to stay up all season with 6 points (3+3). I love that Lindy has committed to Enroth playing a lot:
“We plan on using Jhonas a fair amount. In back-to-back situations, we’re definitely going to use him. The overall plan for him is to get him in every three or four games.”
This is music to my ears, and probably a load off Ryan Miller’s shoulders. Jhonas battled for the win in the back half of this weekend’s back to back games against the Crosby and Malkin-less Pens. Every weekend in November involves back to back games, so if you aren’t familiar with Enroth, you will be soon enough. It’ll be interesting to see if he gets in on any games in the next two weeks first though, as there are 3 games each week with a day in between.
Check out the ice time from that game, by the way, could we be back to the post-lockout ‘roll four lines’ Sabres? Would love it.
Thanks to the Sabres’ European Vacation, it’s been FOREVER since they played. And to face off against the Hurricanes in the home opener? Even better. Here’s hoping they carve them up. I’ve been sick all week so I don’t have anything else to add, other than it’ll be awesome to watch the Sabres again.
I only got to see bits and pieces of the Sabres games in Europe, since I was at work for one of them, but you can’t ask for much more than what they did. Two wins, including one after a terrible night of travel. Contributions from Ehrhoff and Leino, Thomas Vanek doing his Atlas thing, Luke Adam making a case to stick with the big club long term. Oh, and your new captain Jason Pominville leading by example with 4 points already. The Sabres got a bit squirrelly in the 3rd periods, but Miller seems ready to take care of business in the Buffalo end, so you’ve got that too. The next game can’t come soon enough, though I understand they need time after the trip so I will manage to wait until Friday. 😀
I haven’t felt compelled to post much of anything this preseason, as you may have noticed. A touch of snark at the Leafs here, a bit of whimsy about Shanny’s player discipline for head-hunting there. Beyond that though, nada. I think there’s a good reason…I’m satisfied. For the first time in a while, I so like what the team has done in the offseason I don’t feel the need to do a bunch of research, or scour Behind The Net’s advanced stats, to try and show you why Buffalo should be better this year than last. The moves stand on their own. They took a playoff team from last year, lost only a few players, replaced them with guys who are most likely quite a bit better. Jhonas Enroth looks primed to be the solid backup goalie that we’ve waited years for, and Miller has been sharp early as well.
I guess what I’m saying is, I need the season to start to find something to complain about, or praise highly. I’m content. Once the games start, I can champion someone’s cause for the Calder again, or show video of why Ehrhoff is an important player for the Sabres. Let’s resolve to make this the best blogging and tweeting year for Sabres fans ever. The season begins, and I’m ready.
Whoever wields this hammer, if he be worthy, shall ban the hell out of head-targetting assclowns.
I think we’ve all seen so far this pre-season that the ‘new sheriff’ Brendan Shanahan is wielding a big stick when it comes to player safety and suspensions. This is good, as there are a LOT of dangerous hits that can be taken out of the game without a huge change to how it’s played. With that being said, until the players fully integrate this level of enforcement into their game, it’s likely that there could continue to be suspensions at a prodigious rate. I’m curious as to who you think might lead the way for Buffalo in the regular season? I hope that it ends up being just one guy with a two-gamer, but I’m nervous that it won’t be. Buffalo plays a phsyical game now, and adding a guy like Robyn Regehr is just going to enhance that. Tyler Myers makes me nervous too, since he’s gotten more physical and his elbows are right at Scott Gomez head level. Have a different candidate? Let me know who you think.
I watched both Leafs games over the weekend (including the one here in Buffalo in person) and it struck me, watching the drunken obnoxious Toronto fans, that this must be their favorite time of year. There is hope, manufactured by their fever dreams about their prospects. Any win is an indication that things will go well this year, and a close loss is the Leafs ‘standing toe to toe with the “contender” Sabres’. Can’t forget the quotes around that. You can bet your ass they’d tout Buffalo as a contender (no quotes) if the Leafs had won either one of the games. They are the first to try an smirk at the Sabres’ offseason pickups, so it was GREAT to see Ehrhoff being so instrumental in their defeat. Oh, I almost forgot how much the Leafs fans enjoy snarking about the Sabres relying on Miller to win games, when their faint playoff hopes are basically on ‘Optimus Reim’ not being a Steve Mason-esque one year wonder.
So crow while you can, Toronto. Take close losses in the preseason as fact that you are ‘closer’ to your betters, but remember your place in the regular season. Which is 4th in the division (hey, Ottawa won’t be any better). At least you have that.
It wasn’t pretty, but the Sabres got the win last night against the Carolina Hurricanes 3-1. Gaustad and Gerbe scored in the third to take the lead and assisted on the other two goals, and Kaleta added an empty netter to seal it. Brandon Sutter was your Canes goal scorer. It definitely looked like a pre-season game for most of the first two periods, with Buffalo giving up chance after chance. Jhonas Enroth (playing the second half) made some fantastic saves, and new guy Drew MacIntyre was solid. We also had our first look at Leino in a Sabres uniform, and he looked pretty good.
The Sabres play the Habs tomorrow night, possibly with some more of the regulars in the lineup. I know some of the junior players are returning to their respective teams. Hockey is back, and it feels great!
Man, it’s like Terry Pegula and Ted Black are mindreaders. I love the idea of Teppo as a coach here, even at the end of his career he was always a steadying and calming influence on whoever he was paired with. He could always clear the zone (oftentimes when no one else could) and I obviously found his story pretty inspirational. Anybody that would fight back from multiple heart surgeries to keep playing is someone I’d want influencing my young defensemen. Good luck, Teppo!
It’s already started. It may have started last year, even. Tweeters and bloggers who left Buffalo alone, or held them up as an example of a team doing the best it could with less are disappearing. Media members and pundits who ignored the Sabres are paying attention now. Terry Pegula made sure of that. Not all of the attention is positive, though. Some folks have an agenda, or are simply grumpy morons. They are trying their best to rile you up, mock the spending spree Terry is on, belittle the players on your favored team. Do you know why? There are two possibilities.
1. They are a fan of a team that is a Have. Terry, Ted and Darcy are doing everything in their power (and copious wallet in the case of Mr. Pegula) to ensure the Sabres join that club. Everyone hates the Nouveau Riche.
2. They are a fan of a team that is a Have-not. Maybe their owner is a cheapskate, maybe they are non-existent. The Pegula Sabres represent everything they hate about the big money teams. Long-term deals to free agents, cap ‘circumvention’, and fans that are having fun with it. We should all be miserable with them, you see.
It’s hard to blame them – how long ago was it that Buffalo fit into that second category? We decried every huge contract the big money teams signed, then found a way out of. We saw free agents that grew up in our system signed away for stupid money, and told ourselves it was OK, they weren’t worth that money anyway. Our pipeline has talent, we’ll do it the hard way. Well, the tables have turned. Buffalo has a solid pipeline of talent coming up, AND they were the ones signing guys for stupid money.
So what should you do? Taking pity on the haters doesn’t work, because their minds our made up – anything you say to them will just confirm how messed up and WRONG you are. It’s probably best just to ignore them and enjoy the ride. Nothing will infuriate them more. BUT, sports isn’t fun without a rivalry, so remember what was said. There’s nothing better than gloating later when an idiot is proven wrong.
